BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission cut on Tuesday its proposed tariff on imports of Tesla cars built in China, as it broadly maintained other planned punitive duties it set in July on Chinese-made electric vehicles.
In the highest profile European Union probe of alleged Chinese subsidies, the Commission issued draft definitive findings of its anti-subsidy investigation, which has provoked threats of retaliation from Beijing.
It set a new reduced rate of 9% for Tesla, lower than the 20.8% it had indicated in July.
Tesla had requested a recalculation of its rate to be based on the specific subsidies the company had received, according to the Commission.
The EU executive said on Tuesday it still believed Chinese EV production had benefited from extensive subsidies and proposed final duties of up to 36.3%. That is slightly lower than the maximum provisional duty of 37.6% the Commission had set in July for companies that did not cooperate with the EU’s anti-subsidy investigation.
Tesla was among the companies classed as cooperating with the EU investigation.
The Commission said it conducted an investigation, including sending a team to Tesla facilities in China, to verify what subsidies the firm had received.
A Commission official said Brussels had concluded that Tesla receives less subsidies from China, compared to the Chinese EV producers Brussels had investigated.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, Kate Abnett, Sudip Kar-Gupta, Benoit Van Overstraeten; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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